Guy time, family time and lot's of drivng time...

For the past five days we've been hanging with...well, all of you!

Kiel wanted to go to Utah for some quality male bonding. I wasn't there but I'm sure it consisted of a lot of conversations with the word "dude" used over and over and over again, fast food and secret handshakes. The only part I'm sad I missed is when Kiel got to see Bruce's newest cousin, Erica Allison Brown. She is a doll, wouldn't you agree? She and Bruce are nose twins!

While Kiel was doing his "man" time. Dude, Bruce and I made a trip to the bay area to see friends and family. On the way there we broke up the drive to two nights. We stayed the night in Fresno with my friend Joanna and her beautiful family. The next morning I packed up and drove two and half more hours to Oakley, where the Allens reside.

Bruce had a blast playing with all of his cousins. Luke and Bruce play really well together. We were able to see Katie, Mickey and Gerry for a day. Bruce LOVED Katie. He's great with people, doesn't mind strangers and mostly loves men with deep voices. Friday night, Omi and Opa watched Bruce while I had sister time. Bruce played with his cousin Sydney that night and Saturday morning. Last, Bruce , Luke and Avril had a play date at Aunt Diane's. Unfortunately, Bruce's nap time got in the way of play time.

Can you tell we all look like our daddies?

I was able to have fun as well. I saw my friends Sarah, Marci and Rachel on Wednesday. Thursday my friend Jenn finally met Bruce. Bruce went to his first "white table cloth" restaurant and behaved very well. Friday I went to dinner with Frances and Katie, minus the children and had much needed adult conversation. Saturday, Frances hosted a family dinner and everyone on my side of the family was there. When Sunday finally came around it was time to pack up and go home. We stopped in Dublin to have breakfast at my dads and then we were back on the road.

It was a rainy drive home so Montana ended up sitting in the front passenger seat next to me the whole drive home. He made it hard to see out of my passenger side mirror but other than that it was a cozy drive. Bruce slept most of the way which made it easy. He is a really good traveler. Unfortunately, every time we travel he brings back a virus. So today I've been taking care of a cranky baby with a low grade fever and a bad diaper rash. Poor guy. He has a Dr.'s appointment tomorrow for his rash. I hope it goes away soon.

This morning we picked up Kiel from the airport and Bruce has been saying "dada" and "daddy" all day. I'm not sure if this counts as his first word but Kiel says it does.

Well, that was our "mini" vacation in a nutshell and once again I didn't take very many pictures.

The Bay Area...Again

So it looks like about once a month we go to the bay area and like always our week books up fast.

Bruce took his first plane ride from Long Beach to Oakland and I could kick myself in the shin 50 times for not taking one stink'n picture. But in my defense, I was flying with a child for the first time AND I was all by myself. Not to mention (I never got this phrase, because whenever you say "not to mention" it means you're going to "mention) Ahem, to "Mention" the plane broke down and we didn't even take off until an hour and an half after we were suppose to land. But we made it, Bruce did great and he got a set of wings that I can put in his baby book.

For the first few days we stayed with Aunt Frances and Uncle Mike, cousin Luke and Ashton. Bruce LOVED Aunt Frances and laughed so hard he pee'd his diaper. He loves her curly hair. Kiel picked us up on Wednesday and we stayed at Omi's the rest of our trip. On Thursday Bruce and I went over to Aunt Katies and we had a "cousin playdate." My cousin Lisa drove from Sacramento with her little girl Leilah (7 months), Frances came with Luke (3 1/2 months) and Ashton (3 1/2 years), so we could play with Katie's children, Micky (5 months) and Jerry (5 yrs). It was great to all get together and play with the babies. I was the last one to FINALLY join the baby club. Of course we talked about breastfeeding, childbirth, wake/sleep schedules and other fun stuff. And then we got the babies together for a photo shoot. I took these pictures below. My cousin is a great photographer, (she was my photographer at my wedding) and she took really good shots of the babies, which I will post separately.

On Friday we visited Omi at her work so she could show off Bruce. Everyone thought he was adorable and kept commenting on how much he looks like a boy. That's also what the nurses said when he was born.

I stopped taking pictures on Thursday so you'll have to suffer with journaling.

Patrice's flock (minus Brigitte, Tyler and Logan *sad face) gathered at her house for conference weekend and Bruce played with his cousin's on Kiel's side of the family. I love watching Mariah who is 3 and Ashton interact with Bruce. They are so gentle, caring and playful. Jack is great too, Bruce, bruce, bruce! And we can't forget little Sydney who is the only baby I have ever known to interact with babies at her age. Most children parrallel play until about 1ish. (How do you like that? My child development class I took 11 years ago still stuck.) This little girl laughs at everything Bruce does, hiccups, sneezes, and staring is all hilarious to her. And when you lay them side by side, she wants to see what Bruce is doing, trys to touch him and so on. It is very entertaining to watch and I am amazed at how developed she is in this area. Of course Bruce is not socially advanced and continues to ignore Miss Sydney.

We all watched conference together, played with the kids and ate really good food.

Unfortanately, Bruced did get a cold from the plane ride that he is still suffering from. Hopefully he gets better soon so he can get shots :D

Baby Shower, Bay Area Style!

This weekend I packed up the dog, kidnapped Beth and headed up north to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Baby Christensen with my friends and family in the bay area.

The shower was so much fun and I got to see friends that I haven't seen since high school.

Activities: Decorate a onesie, create a baby face using photo's of Kiel and Melissa, drink applejuice out of a bottle and play trivia.

My stepmom made the food, she is an amazing cook! Menu: Chicken salad sandwhich on croissant role, Tortilla and Potato soup, potstickers, fruit and potato salad.

Nicole Evans made the cake

Me and my mom

Me with my prego sisters, the oldest already popped hers out.

Group Pic

Thank you Frances and Karen for your hardwork and making it so much fun. Thank you Jana for the potato salad and cookies and everyone else who helped set up!

I also drove to my cousin's friend's studio and took pictures of me and my prego belly. We did a really fun shoot and can't wait to see how those turned out!

Till next time, I already miss my friends :(